1. Field
The disclosures herein relate to an isolated polypeptide, a composition thereof, and a method of increasing polysaccharide hydrolysis activity of a polysaccharide hydrolase in the presence of the isolated polypeptide.
2. Description of Related Art
With globally increasing concern about the exhaustion of resources and pollution of the environment by overuse of fossil fuels, the development of new and renewable alternative energy resources that can stably and continuously produce energy are being considered. In the ongoing development of such alternative energy resources, the technology for producing alcohol from biomass resources has been attracting considerable attention. Biofuels are a wide range of fuels which are in some way derived from biomass.
Today, “first generation biofuels” are those made from carbohydrates in sugarcanes or starch in corn using conventional technologies. “Second generation biofuels” are those made from non-food biomass, e.g., a representative cellulosic resource, lignocellulose, which is the most abundant and fully renewable biomass on the planet. At present, biofuel production from algae, sometimes called “third generation biofuels” is also being developed.
The process of producing biofuel generally includes pretreating a biomass to facilitate saccharification, saccharifying the pretreated biomass into monosaccharides, and fermenting the monosaccharides into alcohol.
Saccharification is the process of hydrolyzing polysaccharides into soluble sugars, such as monosaccharides. Generally, saccharification is carried out using a hydrolase, although chemical hydrolysis with, for example, an acid is also possible. To improve the economic feasibility and efficiency of production of biofuel from cellulosic biomass, it is necessary to reduce current production costs. In particular, about ⅔ of the cost for producing biofuel is used in pretreatment and saccharification of cellulosic biomass, and a significant portion of the cost is spent to purchase enzymes, e.g., cellulase or hemicellulase, for degrading the biomass. In order to reduce the cost for purchasing enzymes, research is being directed to improving enzyme activity or developing novel enzymes.